While shopping for a dress to wear to a friend's daughter's wedding I noticed something had keenly changed in the dressing room experience. Back in the day when I was younger and thinner and less, shall we say, lumpy, the ladies dressing room in the department store was a lonely place. The other gals in their respective booths stayed behind their own curtains, they struggled with zippers and buttons alone in their quest. We did not speak or offer opinions or even give eye contact when we passed each other on the way in and out of the dressing room. Our hunt for an outfit was ours alone. Trying on dresses was about as much fun as a trip to confession, same little booth, same need to pray. However, even three Hail Mary's didn't always help find the right dress. My recent trip to the dressing room was different. There's a new camaraderie among Boomer women trying on clothes in those dressing room booths. Our curtains open, we share the big mirror at the end of the room and we offer honest opinions not to strangers, but to comrades like soldiers in a trench. We cheer each other on, we remark on what "works" and what doesn't. We are one in our desire to find an outfit that camouflages best, hugs closest, slims the most, one that isn't too youthful, yet not too old lady, or God forbid, too short. I'm happy to report I found a good dress.,one that "feels good." But, I'm happier about something even better. I've remembered that women get wiser as we get older and we've lived enough to laugh loudest at ourselves and that feels best. |